Nickel Gotoh Pearloid Keystone Button TunersGibson Acoustic’s Custom L-7C Acoustic Archtop features Gotoh’s pearloid keystone button tuners. With a gear ratio of 15:1, these Gotoh tuners deliver precision tuning in a durable housing that provides maximum protection for the gear and string post. All moving parts are cut for exact meshing, eliminating the possibility of slippage, with a special lubricant inside the gear box for smooth and accurate tuning stability.
Crown Peghead Logo
Gibson put the first crown peghead logo on an ES-300 back in 1940, and it has graced the headstocks of many legendary Gibson guitars ever since, including today’s Custom L-7C Acoustic Archtop. Over the years, it has also been called a “thistle” because of the group of flowering plants with the sharp prickles, though Gibson has preferred to call it a “crown.”
Pickguard
The pickguard for the Custom L-7C Acoustic Archtop is a beveled and elevated black archtop pickguard, exclusive to the Custom L-7C. As with all of Gibson Acoustic’s pickguards, the coloring, inlay, and binding are all done by hand and the body is moved into the next phase of production. It has been done the same way for over 100 years, and is a fundamental part of Gibson Acoustic ’s rich guitar-making history.
Rosewood Fingerboard with Rolled Edges and Split Parallelogram InlaysThe fingerboard of Gibson’s Custom L-7C Acoustic Archtop is constructed from the highest grade rosewood on earth, which is personally inspected and qualified by Gibson’s team of skilled experts before it enters the Gibson factories. The resilience of this durable wood makes the fingerboard extremely balanced and stable, and gives each chord and note unparalleled clarity and bite. The L-7C’s split parallelogram inlays are made of genuine mother of pearl, and are inserted into the fingerboard using a process that eliminates gaps and doesn’t require the use of fillers. The fingerboard also sports a rolled edge—instead of the usual right angle where the fingerboard surface meets the neck, Gibson Acoustic’s rolled edge is slightly beveled for an extremely smooth and comfortable feel, enhancing the playability of the L-7C.
Body Tonewoods (back, sides and top)
The body of the L-7C Acoustic Archtop is molded from the body design of Gibson’s fabled J-200, but with “F” holes instead of the regular soundhole found on most acoustics. The top of the L-7C is made from beautiful AAA-grade Engleman spruce, while the back and sides are constructed from AAA-grade Eastern curly maple, giving it all the deep, rich tone expected from a 17-inch body. Selecting the right wood, and the formula to dry it out, are two of the most central procedures to Gibson’s guitar-building process. Beginning with its first catalog in 1903, Gibson has assured its customers that every guitar would be built using woods with “the most durable, elastic, and sonorous qualities,” and today’s guitars from Gibson Acoustic are no different.
Bracing
Every acoustic guitar made by Gibson features hand-scalloped, radiused top bracing inside the body, a feature normally found only in limited run, hand-made guitars. By scalloping each brace by hand, the natural sound of the acoustic is focused more toward the center of the body, enhancing the instrument’s sound projection. The lightweight bracing pattern inside the Custom L-7C Acoustic Archtop is a recreation of the acoustic archtop “X” bracing used by Gibson in the early 1900s. Like the bracing inside Gibson’s famed Super Jumbos, the archtop “X” bracing pattern is constructed to support and strengthen a very large surface, thus allowing the top more freedom of movement and focusing the sound toward the center of the body. The result is maximum sound projection, and Gibson’s incomparable acoustic tone.
Features
Gibson Logo
The Gibson name has graced the most innovative and revolutionary acoustic guitars of our time—the Super Jumbos, the J-45, the Hummingbird, the Dove. There is no mistaking the classic, mother-of-pearl logo, pressed onto the face of the headstock. It represents more than a century of originality and excellence. There is simply no equal.
- Gibson Logo
Tapered Dovetail Neck Joint
The dovetail neck joint is one of the oldest—and best—ways of securely joining the neck to the body of a guitar. It is also a complex and expensive neck joint to build, but the result is a tight, locking connection that supports the neck at the proper neck-pitch angle, allowing the body and neck to become one solid piece of resonating wood, with no metal to impede vibration. This process is done entirely by hand, requiring patience and skill.
- Tapered Dovetail Neck Joint
Radius Top
The top of many “flat-top” guitars are under a lot of stress from the pull of the strings, which can eventually compromise the top. So, while most acoustic guitars are true “flat-top” guitars, all of the acoustics produced by Gibson in Bozeman, Montana have a radiused, or “tuned” top. Instead of being perfectly flat, a radiused or “tuned” top is raised slightly, and a special instrument is used to shape the top braces to the radius of the top. This process adds tension and strengthens the top, creating a less stressful joint where the top meets the sides and reducing the stresses of string pull. It also results in a “speaker cone” effect that maximizes sound projection, adding a significant boost to mid-range levels for a more balanced acoustic tone.
- Radius Top
Nitrocellulose Finish
Applying a nitrocellulose finish to any Gibson acoustic guitar — including the L-7C Acoustic Archtop — is one of the most labor-intensive elements of the guitar-making process. Unlike the polyurethane finishes used by many guitar manufacturers, a nitrocellulose lacquer finish is porous when cured, allowing the wood to naturally “breathe” and mature. Microscopically thin, the finish on a Gibson acoustic guitar first requires seven main coats of nitrocellulose lacquer. After drying overnight, the initial seven coats are then level sanded and given two additional coats. Left to dry for five additional days, the finish is then wet sanded and buffed to its final glass-like sheen. The time-consuming nature of applying a nitro finish has been employed ever since the first Gibson guitar was swathed with lacquer back in 1894. Why? For starters, a nitro finish means there is less interference with the natural vibration of the instrument, allowing for a purer tone. It’s also a softer finish, making it easily repairable. You can touch up a scratch or ding on a nitro finish, but you can’t do the same on a poly finish.
- Nitrocellulose Finish
Body Binding
In general, a guitar’s binding serves as a cosmetic feature, adding a subtle elegance to any Gibson acoustic while hiding the joints between the top, back, and sides, and helping to protect the guitar’s body from any nicks or dings. But to see the process of putting the binding on a Gibson acoustic is to really appreciate the effort and attention put into each instrument. After the body has been glued together, the excess from the top and back are trimmed off and a groove is cut for the binding. The binding is then glued on and held on to the body using tape, and hung to dry. When the tape comes off, any excess glue is removed and the body is moved into the next phase of production. It has been done the same way for over 100 years, and is a fundamental part of Gibson Acoustic’s rich guitar-making history.
- Body Binding